


Slow Dancing Together in a Burning Room.

by Jack_Wilder



Category: Welcome to the Punch (2013)
Genre: M/M, Slow Dancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 06:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5732614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jack_Wilder/pseuds/Jack_Wilder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The room is not on fire but your presence is suffocating me and clogging up my senses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Dancing Together in a Burning Room.

**Author's Note:**

> I began writing this fic last December and I have now finished it. I hope that you like it! :) 
> 
> Related to "We all have First Times," but it does not have to be read, to read this fic.
> 
> If you like it that's great! :) If you don't that's too bad. Also if you have nothing but negative comments please to keep them to yourself.
> 
> ENJOY!!!! :)
> 
> All mistakes made in this fic are mine.

It was three days after Jake had touched for the first time the injury he had inflicted upon Max.

Three days after he had massaged Max’s knee because he was in too much pain.

Three days after Max had fell asleep under his gentle ministrations.

It was three days after all that and Max was currently curled up in the arm chair by the window, staring out at the night sky and the snow covered woodland surrounding the cabin that he and Jake were holed up in away from the rest of the world.

Max was listening to his ipod, lost in the words being sung through his earphones, feeling nostalgic about his childhood when his father used to dance with his mother around the living room, furniture pushed up against the walls and the two of them lost in their own little world, lost in each other.

Max remember sitting on the staircase watching them after they had thought he had gone to bed, how his mother would smile, her laughter twinkling with joy and how his father looked at her with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes.

His mother was a dancer and even though she knew Max would never follow in her footsteps she made damn sure that he would be able to hold his own on the dance floor.

His mother had danced right up until her illness sunk its claws deeply into her, but not to be defeated, that is how she died, slowly swaying in her husband’s arms of 45 years in her hospital room until she took her last breath. His father never danced again after that and he later joined her in death a year later.

Max wiped away the single tear that escaped his eye, he was happy that they were not here to see his face plastered all over the news as a wanted fugitive; but at the same time he needed a sense of normalcy back into his life.

He continued staring out the window wondering how his life had become such a shit show, when the song on his ipod changed and one of his favourite songs that he loved to dance to when he was younger began to play:

 _When marimba rhythms start to play_  
_Dance with me, make me sway_  
 _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore_  
 _Hold me close, sway me more_  
  
Max closed his eyes and swayed in his seat. He remembered dancing to this song with his first girlfriend, he had invited her over to his house to hang out and this song started to play on the radio. Without a second thought he had gotten out of his seat, extended his hand to her and when she placed her hand in his, he pulled her out of her seat and promptly amazed her by how well he could dance. That is the sight his parents had come home to; their son and his girlfriend dancing and having innocent fun.

Max sighed and opened his eyes as the song ended and replayed it. When it started playing again he got up from his seat and began slightly swaying to the rhythm.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play_  
_Dance with me, make me sway_  
 _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore_  
 _Hold me close, sway me more_

Max held out his arms as if he was dancing with someone and allowed the music to wash over him.

 _Like a flower bending in the breeze_  
_Bend with me, sway with ease_  
 _When we dance you have a way with me_  
 _Stay with me, sway with me_

The second verse had just come to an end when Max decided to turn around and saw Jake standing behind him with an amused expression on his face.

 Max immediately stopped dancing and yanked his earphones out of his ear.

“How long have you been standing there?” He asked sounding as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Jake chuckled, “Long enough mate.” He answered and Max literally felt his deep, smooth, baritone voice wash over him.  

Max nodded and looked everywhere but at Jake, a blush rising to his cheeks. _  
_

 Jake feeling merciful decided to nip his embarrassment in the bud.

 “Who taught you how to dance?” He asked.

 Max cleared his throat, “My mother.”

Jake nodded and he gave Max a once over that the former cop could only describe as appreciative.

“Well she did a damn good job from what I saw.” Jake said and took delight in how violently Max had blushed at the compliment.

“Thank you.” He said.

Jake stepped forward until he was in Max’s space and took one of the earphone buds, “May I?” He asked.

Max nodded and made to turn back on his ipod but was stopped by Jake who signalled for him to put back in the other ear bud.

Max was confused until Jake wrapped his right arm around his waist and took his right hand into his left, it was all Max could do not to flip him over his shoulder and onto the cabin floor. The music began again and Max was so stunned by the events currently taking place that he moved on autopilot when Jake started dancing with him.

 _Other dancers may be on the floor_  
_Dear, but my eyes will see only you_  
 _Only you have that magic technique_  
 _When we sway I go weak_

Max kept his eyes on Jake’s chest, not wanting to look him in the eyes as they carried out such an intimate act.

 _I can hear the sounds of violins_  
_Long before it begins_  
 _Make me thrill as only you know how_  
 _Sway me smooth, sway me now_

Max tried to keep his breathing even, however, every time he inhaled, he breathed in the scent of Jake. A scent of sandalwood and something that was purely Jake Sternwood. Jake tried not to inhale too deeply as that scent did odd things to him that he did not want to examine too closely.

 _Other dancers may be on the floor_  
_Dear, but my eyes will see only you_  
 _Only you have that magic technique_  
 _When we sway I go weak_

Max felt Jake’s hold tighten on his waist and made the mistake of looking up only to see intense green eyes staring right back at him. Max swallowed and expertly averted his gaze to a spot over his dance partner’s shoulder, missing Jake’s smirk.

 _I can hear the sounds of violins_  
_Long before it begins_  
 _Make me thrill as only you know how_  
 _Sway me smooth, sway me now_

They had made their way from the window and were now dancing slowly in front of the fire place. Max tried very hard not to think that if they had met under different circumstances, that this moment in time would be leading to the _horizontal tango_.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play_  
_Dance with me, make me sway_  
 _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore_  
 _Hold me close, sway me more_

Max was wondering if this song had always been this long when he felt Jake let go of his hand only to wrap it around his waist and  pull him in closer. It was safe to say that Max was currently having an internal freak out.

 _Like a flower bending in the breeze_  
_Bend with me, sway with ease_  
 _When we dance you have a way with me_  
 _Stay with me, sway with me_

Max had no choice but to wrap his arms around the taller man’s neck, bringing their chest into contact with each other. Every breath Jake took Max felt it and he swore that he could feel the steady thumping of Jake’s heart beat and hoped that the man could not feel the rapid beating of his own.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play_  
_Hold me close, make me sway_  
 _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore_  
 _Hold me close, sway me more_

Max was at that moment was at war with himself; wanting the song to be over as quickly as possible to get out of this situation and at the same time he did not detest being in Jake’s arms. He felt the muscles under Jake’s clothes; twice before he had felt the power behind them; the punches thrown and being locked in those arms trying to subdue him, while he violently tried to free himself of them to throw his own punches.

He knew the violence behind them and now he also knew the tenderness, how they gently wrapped around his waist, holding him close but also loose enough should he want to escape them. But did he; did he really want this moment to end?

 _Like a flower bending in the breeze_  
_Bend with me, sway with ease_  
 _When we dance you have a way with me_  
 _Stay with me, sway with me_

The song finally came to an end and Jake stepped back, creating a little space between their bodies, as a result Max’s hands slid down to his biceps and he looked up into Jake’s eyes. Jake’s hands were still holding Max’s waist and he squeezed them before letting go. He took the earphone bud out of his ear handing it back to Max.

Jake smiled, “Thank you.” He said sincerely.

Max managed a nod and watched was Jake walked off in the direction of the stairs. He kept his eyes on the man until he was out of sight and only when he heard the door to Jake’s bedroom close did he let out the breath he was holding and sat down on his futon.

Head in his hands, Max wondered if this is how his mother felt the first time she danced with his father; with butterflies fluttering around in her stomach, her face feeling as if it was on fire and felt as if she was dancing with him in a burning room with his presence suffocating her and clogging up her senses.


End file.
